Capo tasto.



c. w; MOORE.

QAPO TASTO.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT.14, 1910,

1,007,960, Patented Nov. 7,1911.

CHARLES W. MOORE, OF OSWEGO, SOUTH CAROLINA.

.CAPO TASTO.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. *7, 1911.

Application filed September 14,1910. Serial No. 582,067.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES IV, Moons,

a citizen of the United States, residing at Oswego, in the county of Sumter, State of South Carolina, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Capo Tastos; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to attachments to guitars, and has for one of its objects to provide a simply constructed attachment whereby the vibratory portions or lengths of the strings may be increased or decreased and thus control the tone.

Another object of the invention is to provide a simply constructed device of this character which may be readily adapted to and disconnected from the guitar or like instrument, and readily transferred from one instrument to another.

lVith these and other objects in view, the

invention consists in certain novel features of construction as hereinafter shown and described and then specifically pointed out in the claims; and, in the drawings illustrative of the preferred embodiment of the invention, Figure 1 is a plan view of a portion of the neck of a guitar with the improvement applied. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is a transverse section on the line 22 of Fig. 1.

In the drawings the neck portion of the guitar is represented conventionally at 10, the tuning pins at 11, the strings at 12 and the frets at 13, arranged in the usual manner. Bearing across the strings 12 at a point relatively near the tuning pins 11 is a bar 14 having a felt or other strip 15 for bearing upon the strings and thus protecting the same. The bar 13 is of greater length than the width of the neck 10 and is provided at one end with a depending eye 16 and at the other end with a depending hook 17. An adjusting screw 18 forms a portion of the improved device and is provided at one end with a bar yoke 19 concaved to conform substantially to the underside of the neck 10 and provided with a felt or other soft lining 20 to protect the material of the neck.

Mounted upon the screw 18 is a nut 21 having turning wings 22 and with an an nular channel 23 near its upper end. Fitting within the channel 23 is a collar device comprising two segmental portions 2425 coupled at their ends by clamp screws 2627, the nut 21 being thus rotative within the collar device. The screws 2627 are utilized as pivots to enable rods 28-29 to be swingingly coupled to the collar device, as shown. At its outer end the rod 28 is provided with an eye 30 engaging the eye 16 of the bar 14, while the rod 29 is provided with an eye 31 for detachably engaging the hook 17. By this arrangement the screw 18 is connected to the bar 14, while the nut 21 is left free to be rotated upon the screw. By this arrangement it will be obvious that any required strain may be applied to the bar 14 to couple it to the neck 10, and upon which it is readily adjustable by simply loosening the nut 21 and moving the bar longitudinally ofthe neck. The bar will always be located above one of the frets 13, and by this means the tone can be quickly changed and raised or lowered as required, to enable the guitar to be placed in tune with other instruments, without changing the relative tension of the strings, as the tension of the strings is not altered by employing the bar.

As will be seen by referring to the drawings the bar 14 and the rods 28 and 29 are so proportioned that when the device is applied to the instrument the ends of the bar 14 extend but a slight distance beyond the sides of the neck and the rods 28 and 29 rest against the opposite sides thereof. This renders the device much less liable to displacement by a casual blow than are devices of a like nature now on the market, the rods 28 and 29 serving not only to prevent transverse displacement of the bar 13 across the neck of the instrument, but also because of their engagement with the neck serving to prevent all angular displacement thereof.

The improved device is simple in construction, can be applied without material structural change to guitars, mandolins, and like instruments.

What is claimed is 1. A device of the class described comprising a bearing bar, a clamping screw, a nut engaging said screw and provided with an annular channel, a collar engaging in said channel, and rods connecting said collar with the ends of a bearing bar, said rods being adapted to bear against the neck of the instrument when the device is coupled thereon.

2. A device of the class described com- I1S1I10 a bearin bar a clam 1n screwv a b b 7 p at its ends respectively to said collar and to said bar at one end, and another rod swingingly connected at one end to said collar and detachably connected at the other end to said bar at the other end thereof, said rods bearing against the sides of the instrument neck when the device is in position.

In testimony whereof, I afliX my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES W. MOORE.

Witnesses THos. E. RICHARDSON, SADVIE NETTLES.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

